~ Posted on Thursday, August 29, 2013 at 7:56 AM ~

Some time last year, I blogged about buying books online via The Book Depository. I am still a frequent customer of this wonderful site, free shipping and on and off, bargains and cheap deals available for limited time. Last month I managed to snag some awesome bargains when The Book Depository (aka TBD) had their bargain deals.

Sharing with you 2 of the books I managed to snag! I love these books because I am getting them for USD3+ (includes shipping to Malaysia!!!) and our 4.5 years old boy loves Little Critters and they are educational as well and all the pages have perforated lines at the side which I can tear up and make copies over and over again if I want to! Awesome!! Btw, if there is no bargain, each of these books costs about USD10! (includes shipping too)

So cool right? Do hop over to The Book Depository and check out their deals from time to time! You can go to their website by clicking the icon on my blog sidebar (right hand side- do note that there is an affiliate links there)

I received no monetary compensation for this review. All opinions expressed in this post are my own. Please do your own research when purchasing products, as your opinions may differ from mine.

~ Posted on Wednesday, August 28, 2013 at 8:26 AM ~

Last week, I brought our 2 kiddos to a nearby church to find out about their children's playgroup session. Apparently they have just set up this playgroup sessions recently and I was looking for a nice playgroup place where I can bring our kiddos to and at the same time be with them during the session.

God works in miraculous ways, I was clearing some books I have and posted pictures of them in my SAHM group in FB to give away to mums who are interested to be their new owners and one mum responded with regards to one of the books and after chatting over FB, I found out that she sends her children to this church for preschool and she mentioned to me about the new playgroup program.

So yeah, last week, I brought my kiddos to the playgroup center to find out more and they were having one of the playgroup session that time. We can see about 10 kids there with their parent and/or grandparent and I can see my 2 kiddos curious and wanted to join in the fun too. So anyway, I found out that they are organising an outing to our local fire station and immediately I asked whether we could join in the outing.

And yes, I was told we can join in of course! I think I was more excited than my kiddos as I know very well how they both love watching Fireman Sam and I think they would be thrilled to see a fire engine and fireman up close, and perhaps even sit in a fire engine!

On the outing day, we arrived just in time at the playgroup center (took me about 10 minutes to look for a parking spot) and just as we walked up to the playgroup center, I saw everybody leaving and walking towards the fire station. Lugging our 2 years old ninja, I took my 4.5 years old boy's hand and walked faster to tag along the rest.

We reached the fire station and was then allowed to take pictures up close at a fire engine parked right in the fire station. We were then told that we can sit in the fire engine and one of the fireman offered to bring us parents and kiddos for a short trip around the neighborhood to have a feel of riding in a fire engine. WoooooO!!!

We were the 2nd batch of parents and kiddos to ride in the fire engine and I admit, I was being selfish, the moment the fire engine drove into the station, I quickly queue up to get the front seats with the fireman. Anything for my kiddos, I tell you! And so, yes, we got the front seats of course! Plus I think it is better anyway for us to sit in front since I have 2 kiddos with me and a preggy bump as well, wouldn't be comfortable and nice squeezing at the back passenger seats right? Hehehehe...

The fireman initially turned on the loud siren, immediately I can see Benjamin getting excited but suddenly one of the younger boy at the back started crying and was terrified at the sudden noise. The fireman immediately turned off the siren. Oh well, the thrill was short lived but better than nothing. Once we reached back at the station, we sat on the floor and listened to a short briefing on how to use the fire extinguishers.

Once it was over, we say goodbye, thanked the firemen and I got Ben to shake hands with one of the fireman. We walked back to the playgroup center, I lugged our 2 years old ninja all the way back of course with Benjamin walking beside me. Chatted with a parents and I shared the tips and how I potty trained Benjamin as well since they asked me how I potty trained Ben.

Once we were back at the playgroup center, the kiddos were treated to a light snacks and we also sang goodbye song to those who are leaving earlier. I can see my kiddos enjoying their snacks while I chatted with another mum. I also paid for our September playgroup sessions in advance for both kiddos.

Back home, I asked Ben whether he likes this class and he said 'Yes' so we'll see how it goes. For now, I'm very thankful we found this playgroup session and prayed that it will help my kiddos to socialise with others more and I get to make more mummy friends as well. Thank you God for pointing us to this place and thank you Abigail for your help in getting the contact number to this playgroup center for me!

**Personal notes: Apologies but due to my paranoia of privacy and security of myself, my family and my kiddos, I am not going to reveal what is the SAHM group I'm in, the playgroup name, the area and so on. Apologies but like I said, I am really paranoid and with info like this being shown in public, I hope you can understand my reasons for doing so.

~ Posted on Monday, August 26, 2013 at 8:15 AM ~

Sometime in July this year, I received an email invitation for me to bring our kiddos to this centre to try out a developmental play session where children will learn to use their hands to explore, refining their sense of touch, and developing their co-ordination and fine motor control. The place was a bit too far from our house and being heavily pregnant at 8 months now and with 2 very clingy kiddos at this stage, I politely declined the offer but was then offered to try out their playbox kit at home since it is not convenient for me to go out and about. So yes, anything that I can try out with my kiddos at home, I said yes of course!

Description from the product page:"WeePLAY is established by three sisters who are mummies (well, one will be in October 2013). We believe that kids should be given opportunities for healthy play that develop all of their senses.

The Messy Play Boxes are an extension of our messy play sessions. The reasons why we introduced the play boxes are for parents who love the idea of messy play and would have loved to come to our play sessions but for one reason or another (time, location, etc), cannot do so."

I immediately opened up one of the dough containers and did a smell test. I don't know why but somehow I always associate dough with yucky smells (like ermm... sweat?) so that was my 1st test on the product. And guess what? It smells goooooooodd... so fragrant as if they dumped a bottle of perfume into the dough!

Next test was taste. Yes, I did taste the dough. Why? I was afraid my kiddos will put it into their mouth (since they smell so good) and what does the dough taste like? Salty! It turned me off and I guess my kiddos won't be attempting to put the dough into their mouth hahahah...

Third test was texture. I pressed my finger onto the dough and it left my finger imprints there. It is easy to roll the dough though one of the colors (the green one) is a bit sticky and wet still. I have clarified with the company on this feedback and received this reply:"As to your question about the green dough, here's an honest answer. As you know, we make this all in our kitchen and therefore, no ISO! The good thing about it though, is that it's all safe with no chemical whatsoever. The stickiness can sometimes be caused from either a wee bit much water (when we were making it) or from being in the fridge not kneaded or played - we suspect the latter in your case. The stickiness will lessen the more your wee ones play with it." So there you go, case solved!

Next up, the paint. I took the container with the cutest color of all... neon pink! Love it! Our 2 years old ninja girl seems to be attracted to this color as well :) I rolled the container around my hand and the paint move slowly, shows it is not too diluted or watery. The colors are even and you don't see any lumps or anything. I proceeded to pour out some on the paint palette for my kiddos to try on.

** Feedback on the usage: I let my kiddos try out the dough. I think my kiddos have some sort of OCD problem. They don't really like sticky things on their hands. Look at our ninja girl, not even touching the dough much! I tried coaxing her to have a feel of the dough but she keeps on shaking her head and insisted on using a plastic toy spoon to poke and prod the dough.

Our 4 years old boy on the other hand is a bit more adventurous. I think he thought it is the same Play-doh material we have and he uses one of his Play-doh toy to play along with the WeePLAY dough. My boy smacked the dough onto his play table and was busy cutting his imaginary food and feeding Cookie Monster.

After sometime, they got restless and I decided time to let them try the paint at our balcony. So I poured out a dollop each from the paint container onto each side of the paint palette, gave our kiddos a paint brush each, smaller brush for our girl and bigger brush for our boy. Our girl immediately scooped the neon pink paint while our boy got onto mixing the green and yellow paint. He then practised his number writing and also drew a Truffula tree on our balcony floor.

A few days later, I let my kiddos play with the paint at our balcony again. This time, I told our boy to color some of the sea shells we brought back from Penang last year during our family trip.

** Feedback on the mess and cleaning up: I was initially quite fretful at the thought of cleaning up the mess... the paint and everything! But amazingly, the paint washes off easily the moment you sprayed water on it. During the play, our girl got some paint on her legs and it doesn't make her uncomfortable or itchy or anything. In fact, she continued playing and even happily swabbed some paint on me! Our boy got so excited he painted all over the balcony floor and walls!

Cleaning up the paint is very easy. Just wash it off with water and it comes off easily. Maybe it is our balcony floor tiles but I realised the floor is very slippery while we were washing the paint off so I had to be extra cautious and keep watching our kiddos in case they slipped and fell.

** Overall Feedback: I like the Messy Play Box, especially the paint ones as I can see my kiddos enjoying themselves, coloring and doodling happily and not worried about the mess being permanently left on the floor/walls.

I also think the idea of this playbox is cool! I have seen this type of products being sold overseas (online too) where parents can subscribe and pay monthly for the crafts and playbox which will be compiled and delivered straight to their doorstep every month so that parents can use and let their kiddos play with the kit. I hope to see more products being offered by the company and that more parents are open to this concept to allow their children go crazy with messy playing (and all the time learning as well) !

The Messy Play Box (retailed at RM50 for members and RM55 for non-members) is one of the bestsellers alongside the Wee Box (RM23 for members and RM26 for non-members) which contains 5 of those WeePLAY non-toxic Paints. The other 3 Play Boxes currently available at the moment are The Sensory Dough Play Box, The Messy Marble Play Box and The Messy Slime Play Box (all 3 are RM29 for members and RM33 for non-members). All 5 play boxes are available for sale through www.weeplaymalaysia.com.

I received no monetary compensation for this review, I was provided with the product by WeePLAY in order to facilitate my review. All opinions expressed in this post are my own. Please do your own research when purchasing products, as your opinions may differ from mine.